TOWNS
The Cabell County Courthouse is located at 750 5th Avenue, Huntington WV 25701; phone: 304-526-8634.
Cabell County was formed, as a county of Virginia, in 1809 and named for Virginia Governor William H. Cabell (1805-1808). The town of Guyandotte served as the first county seat until 1814 when the county seat was moved to the town of Barboursville. The county seat remained at Barboursville (excepting an 18-month period during the Civil War) for 73 years, until the transfer of the county seat to the new city of Huntington in 1887.
The choice of Huntington as a county seat of Cabell County was reflective of its newly assumed role as the dominant urban and transportation center of the region. The city had been laid out in the course of two years (1871-1873) to serve as the terminus for Collis P. Huntington's C&O Railroad. The city of Huntington sprang into existence in a very short period of time, and the first buildings to be constructed were railroad related structures. Due to the presence of the railroad, Huntington experienced a period of rapid growth, soon outdistancing other communities in the area.